The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, is complaining because the national average salary for our educators is only $46,752. Keep in mind that this figure does not include any summer school salary teachers make.

Here’s the money quote:

“Teachers should never have to choose between doing what they love and supporting their families,” the group’s president, Reg Weaver, said Thursday. “We can’t continue to ask them to fulfill such an important mission without providing the support they deserve.”

Cry me a river, Reg. I think I would fall to my knees and thank God if I could make $46,752 working 8 months a year, with time off for Thanksgiving, Christmas and typically, Easter.

An entire city block in St. Louis is engulfed in flames as explosions and fire balls hundreds of feet high erupt from the epicenter of this inferno.

So uh, yeah, the St. Louis Cardinals game tonight is delayed.

In a recent interview with Matt Lauer of the Today show set to air Monday, Tom Cruise decided to offer his “expert” opinion on psychiatry, depression, and the chemical imbalances that cause it.

Tom: [interrupting] Yeah but you don’t understand the history of these drugs. And if you do, you know that it masks the problem. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance!

I’m glad Tom Cruise, with his advanced degrees in bio-chemistry and psychiatry has felt he should take the time to tell us the Truth. Nevermind all that pesky scientific evidence.

Good to know that religious nut jobs aren’t just confined to the right…(cue eye roll)

More than 40 years ago, Edgar Ray Killen orchestrated the murder of three young civil rights workers. On June 21, 2005, a Mississippi jury found the Klan member guilty of three counts of manslaughter; the presiding judge sentenced the 80-year-old man to 60 years in prison. Killen is eligible for parole in 20 years, after his 100th birthday.

In Killen’s original trial in 1964, the all-white jury deadlocked 11-1 over his participation in these murders, with the lone hold-out saying that she could “never convict a preacher.” Killen was not retried until he caused an uproar by trying to procure space for the KKK at a local fair. The case was reopened and the elderly man found guilty; he will spend the remainder of his life in solitary confinement as prison officials worry that other inmates would kill him in general lockup.

While the case brings closure to an ugly incident in American history, it seems necessary to ponder whether the time and money spent prosecuting Killen were worth it to put a wheel-chair-bound 80-year-old man in prison for a 40-year-old crime. For those craving “justice” in retribution, the decision comes too late to make any meaningful difference. Killen lived a long life of freedom. Now that he’s bound by a frail body, it makes his imprisonment laughable. The old man poses little threat to anyone.

Is it justice to imprison a man who has lived as a harmless member of society for more than 40 years? Does it make any logical sense to toss this man in jail, thereby obligating the state to pay for his upkeep?

While there might be some who believe this decision “means something” or serves to correct a glaring historical injustice, I think Neshoba county has wasted resources that could have been used to keep actively violent felons off the streets. The people had their chance to make Killen pay for his crimes generations ago and they failed to convict him. This verdict is 40 years too late.

Here’s me with my honorary sister Kim after tonight’s NHS Class of 2005 graduation:

Congratulations, Kimber!!!

More photos, audio and video to follow later.

I’m sure we can all remember getting calls from the recruiters in high school, talking about all the benefits of military service. For some people it’s a great fit; it helps them pay for college and leads to either a great career in the military or one which takes those skills into the civillian world.

But the pressure on recruiters to fill quotas can cause some of them to be a little agressive and annoying. And then there are these guys, who clearly could use some lessons in good judgment.

For the record, I don’t think that this behavior is typical of most recruiters (thank goodness); most of them really are trying to do a good job. but if you are a parent, the advice that this article gives is definitely worth remembering.

Karl Rove typically conducts his day-to-day business under the radar of the MSM. But last night, he pitched the NYT a big ole softball, commenting on the liberal response to 9/11.

“Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.”

Rove continued by referencing Durbin’s poorly articulated commentary.

Mr. Rove also said American armed forces overseas were in more jeopardy as a result of remarks last week by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who compared American mistreatment of detainees to the acts of “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others.”

“Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?” Mr. Rove asked. “Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals.”

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A family that lost their home in the recent CA mudslides were given 15 minutes to grab sentimental objects before their home were declared unsafe. The elderly homeowners sent their son inside to grab a few keepsakes and while inside, he grabs a painting off the wall. His parents had purchased the painting nearly a generation ago at a garage sale for $100; an artist friend notices an unusual signature, calls in an art appraiser, and viola, the $100 painting is now worth an estimated $500,000.

In a blow to the concept of private property and ownership, SCOTUS issued a 5-4 decision stating that municpalities can seize property under the concept of eminent domain if the resulting destruction will provide some kind of economic benefit. This case originated in New London, CT, where several homeowners refused to allow the township to raize their homes to build an office complex on the riverfront.

Frankly, this decision worries me as numerous cases of towns trying to push out homeowners to build Walmarts and other stores of questionable economic benefit abound. It makes me very uncomfortable to know that I could build my dream house only to have my municipality take it away under the guise of economic development.

UPDATE Instapundit has more.

The lovely Ms. Jackson points out that the there-were-no-WMDs-in-Iraq mantra is untrue. While her post is compelling, it’s not nearly as entertaining as the comment wars that follow.

I’m on the South Shore Line train right now, heading to Chicago. God, I hate having to spend two and a half hours on a train, travelling west, just so I can catch my two-hour eastbound flight from Chicago to Connecticut. So annoying! Stupid South Bend airport having massively expensive fares…

Anyway, my flight is Southwest #748; it is scheduled to take off at 10:00 AM CDT (which is the same as EST) and land at 1:05 PM EDT (which is one hour later than EST). If all goes as planned, my parents will pick me up at Bradley Airport, whereupon I’ll go home briefly, then catch “Batman Begins” with Sean at 3:20 PM, then go to the Bushnell for the NHS graduation at 7:00 PM. (Not only is my “honorary” little sister Kim graduating, but so is Sean’s biological little sister Stephanie.) Then, presumably, I head home, and sleep late tomorrow (I barely slept at all last night, as is my custom the night before travelling; I always procrastinate packing and it always takes me an absurd amount of time, even for short trips), before spending the later part of the day trying to squeeze in as many visits with friends as possible. On Saturday, I have a bit more time in Newington (hopefully to actually hang out with my parents a bit) before heading up to New Hampshire for my brief overnight visit with Kristy and Eddie. And then, 13 hours after my Greyhound bus arrives in Manchester from Hartford, my Southwest flight departs from Manchester for Chicago at 8:40 AM Sunday. “Fill the unforgiving minute,” as my dad says. :)

In the process of getting ready for my trip last night (er, this morning), I updated the contents of my iPod Shuffle, which is presently dominated by country music. Among the new songs on the playlist, both of which I purchased on the iTunes Music Store yesterday, are Billy Dean’s remake of John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and American Idol winner Carrie Underwood’s cover of Martina McBride’s “Independence Day.” Both are very good songs, which I am already in danger of getting sick of because I’ve been listening to them over and over all morning. :)

According to my co-worker and friend Justin (who looks a bit like Andrew, and has very similar politics), Underwood’s version of “Independence Day” is the theme song for Sean Hannity’s radio show. That’s kinda weird, but I suppose the chorus, devoid of context, could sort of work:

Let freedom ring
Let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Throw this stone away
Let the guilty pay
It’s Independence Day

The thing is, I’m not sure whether Hannity understands that the song isn’t actually about America or patriotism or anything of the sort; as I understand it, it’s about spousal abuse, alcoholism and arson. Heh. Stupid Republicans. :)

P.S. As I said, I love the song, but… “Let the right be wrong”? What’s up with that? Why would we want things that are right to become wrong?

P.P.S. And, come to think of it, in an ideological context, that one line doesn’t make much sense for Hannity, does it? He doesn’t want people to think that the Right is wrong! :) Perhaps he had Carrie record a slightly different version? I can almost hear it now…

Let the Right be strong
Let the Left be wrong
Let’s roll, bombs away
Let the Ay-rabs pay
It’s Independence Day

:) I was trying to think of someplace to include a lyric along the lines “Send ‘em to Gitmo Bay,” but it didn’t quite fit…

For the uninitiated and the overinitiated, here’s the rundown on Gitmo:

Gitmo is the gulag equivalent of a Ben Affleck movie: no one’s seen it, but everyone has an opinion about it. Given all the rhetoric that’s been spilled about this sorta-kinda-not-really Death Camp, it’s time we re-examine the facts, and remind ourselves what’s really at stake. Herewith a summation.

Q: What is Gitmo?

A: Contrary to what some suggest, it does not stand for “Git mo’ Peking chicken for Muhammad, he wants a second portion.” It stands for “Guantanamo,” a facility the United States built to see if the left would ever care about human rights abuses in Cuba. The experiment has apparently been successful.

Q: Who’s in Gitmo?

A: Operation Scoop Up The Little Lost Lambs plucked men from distant countries and brought them to Gitmo to beat them deaf for no apparent reason. There are between 400 and 30 million people at Gitmo, and somewhere between zero and 15 million people have died there.

Q: That’s quite the range. Do we have precise figures?

A: Well, technically, no one has died at Gitmo. Metaphorically, millions have perished, since Gitmo is the spiritual heir to assorted thug regimes — except Saddam’s, of course.

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The 8.1-magnitude New Madrid earthquake of 1812 — the strongest quake ever recorded in the continental U.S. — could very well be repeated within the next 50 years, geologists have confirmed:

Strain is building on a fault near Memphis, Tennessee that was the site of… [the] colossal earthquake that caused damage from South Carolina to Washington D.C. and temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi River nearly two centuries ago. …

The odds of another 8.0 event within 50 years are between 7 and 10 percent, geologists said today. … A lesser but still damaging quake of magnitude 6 or greater has a 90 percent chance of striking in the next five decades. …

The assessment, based on new data from a recently installed array of sensors, puts to rest a 1990s claim that strain was not increasing.

An 8.0+ earthquake “would rock the entire eastern half of the country” — because the sparsity of fault lines in the East and Midwest makes the crust smoother and therefore seismic waves travel much farther than they do in the West — and “prove devastating to the local region.”

P.S. More on why Eastern quakes are worse than Western quakes:

When the ground does shake in the East, the potential for destruction and loss of life is far greater. Scientists aren’t entirely certain why, but they know that seismic waves in the East travel farther and pack more destructive punches. One explanation is that eastern geology is older and simpler, with fewer faults in the ground to slow the travel of quake waves. The ground is also drier and thus may propagate waves more efficiently.

Here’s a great graphical representation of the difference.

And of course, there’s also the fact that Easterners and Midwesterners are less prepared, buildings are less likely to be earthquake-proof, etc.

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The speculation about whether Rehnquist will resign is increasing. Professor Rick Garnett is quoted extensively. (Hat tip: Peppi.)

In miscellaneous news from Connecticut, where I’ll be in about 18 hours…

• A drunk 20-year-old stole a plane from Danbury Airport in the wee hours of this morning, went for a joyride in the middle of the night, flew into New York state, and somehow landed the plane safely on a small, darkened runway despite a blood alcohol level of .15. Money quote: “When an airport security car met the four-seat Cessna at 4:15 a.m. and the plane doors opened, ‘a significant number of beer cans’ spilled to the ground.” LOL!
• A bunch of Middletown geezers are upset about some nude statues near the senior center. Heh. Meanwhile, in New Haven, they’re all bent out of shape about a strip club at a former church.
• Former Newington Town Manager Keith Chapman is caught up in a Berlin brou-ha-ha.
• Griswold High School graduates had an unexpected visitor from the sky at their graduation ceremony yesterday.
• A power outage at West Farms Mall caused evacuations and delays earlier today. Now, there are more outages in nearby towns, apparently unrelated.
• Last but certainly not least, it’s been exactly one year (as of yesterday) since John Rowland announced he would resign as governor. (Hat tip: Tim Stevens.)